Tuesday Two-Fer: In Toothsome Condoms and Oily Prayers We Trust

A doctor in South Africa, a country with a very high rape rate, has developed a condom she believes will help reduce the amount of successful rapes in her country. Check it out:

While of course this sounds great in theory, getting some street justice and whatnot, I see a few problems with this. One, you have to go around wearing an internal condom with teeth in it, which I imagine is somewhat uncomfortable, even if the teeth are on the inside. Two, this seems to be highly likely to enrage the person attempting the rape. I can see it enraging them to the point of killing the victim, severely beating the victim, or to be blunt, simply picking another hole. I mean, once rapists know there’s a possibility their target might be wearing one of these, they can easily check before they attempt the rape to make sure the coast is clear. And if the target is wearing one, I can see repercussions possibly occurring.
Like I said, it’s a great idea in theory, and I know I wish I could have had something like that at my disposal the two times I experienced the horror of rape, but I also am kind of glad I didn’t for the reasons outlined above.

I always have fun thinking of all the fallacies laden in thoughts like this. What if the Christian god wants the oil there? Maybe he’s punishing BP by causing them to lose money. Maybe he’s punishing New Orleans for being a sin-ridden city. Maybe he’s punishing Obama for being a secret Muslim. Maybe he really likes oil. You just don’t know. Maybe in a few years we’re going to be glad that oil is there! Don’t question his master plan!

Really, if he doesn’t want the oil there wouldn’t he have prevented the pipe from breaking in the first place? Or does he just feel like fucking with us for a bit before he fixes the pipe? I understand that people believe prayer works. More power to you. I have to be honest, sometimes when I’m desperate I shoot a little message out to any god that might possibly exist for a little help. I don’t really think anything’s going to happen. But I’m one of those try anything type people because you never know, there might be something out there. Maybe Palin and the members of the Louisiana State Legislature are those kind of people too. Although it sounds like they’re rather serious. It seems like the time for prayer would have been earlier on in the disaster so their god would have less to clean up. That’s kind of rude.

Okay, I’ll stop making fun of evangelicals already. I’ve just never been, even when I was a practicing Christian, one of those people who believed god directly intervened in situations in which, say, we’ve screwed ourselves with our addiction to oil. And it’s just amusing to me that the woman famous for chanting “Drill baby drill” is now thinking we need divine intervention on this one. Perhaps BP should have prayed before they leased the rig, asking their god for guidance on how to prevent it from blowing up. A priest could have blessed the pipe and none of this would have happened. Okay, okay, I know I said I would stop. It’s just, hello, separation of church and state? A legislative body declaring a day of praying for the oil to stop flowing? How about some real, concrete solutions that people can carry out on their own, sans divine intervention. How about NOT drilling offshore? No, no. Couldn’t do that, we need that oil. It’s our god-given right to burn that oil. And now we’ve got to go get all that oil out of the Arctic. Since that’s not offshore it’s surely not going to ruin the environment in any way!

I’m just waiting for Pat Robertson to start blaming the spill on feminists and gays.

10 Responses to Tuesday Two-Fer: In Toothsome Condoms and Oily Prayers We Trust

I hadn't thought about that before with the condom. although, once the teeth have, well, sunk in, wouldn't it be kind of hard for him to do any more harm? i mean, sharp things plus nerve endings.

i don't know about the execution, esp. since you'd have to walk around wearing it. which i'm not really willing to do.

i do like the fact that you can only remove the condom surgically, so that if it DOES happen…

but still. yeah.

and, practicing christian over here, i think it's rather weak for Palin to use the God card now after sitting there sighing for months on end and, when it's really getting bad, finally being like, oh, it would make me look good to give up and ask God to clean up my mess.

I don't think God's punishing/not punishing us for anything. Honestly if/when he does rain down punishment, it'll be on his selfish, sleeping, hypocritical church. I think that we don't regulate oil companies enough and this happened. I think that, in this case, it's 'let's see how we can keep the masses happy without actually a. praying and fasting, like the bible says to do, or b. DOING anything.' instead they're hoping a freaking minute of observation, holding hands singing kumbaya will solve this thing. weak, weak.

I remember discussion of the anti-rape condom a while back. In short, putting responsibility for rape prevention onto women =bad; enraging a rapist = dangerous to women.

The prayer thing… oi. Wouldn't religious people have been praying already, anyhow? The thing that makes me laugh most is the solution/miracle phrasing. We'd like God to help our scientists and engineers do their science and engineering or… failing that, we'll have something completely incompatible with science and engineering, we'll have a *miracle*. A miracle. A thing which never, ever happens, because it's impossible.

Ugh, Sarah Palin just says these things for the attention. She is such a troll.

I thought that if anyone was seeking divine commentary on the oil spill we got it last week when lightning hit the ship that was siphoning up the oil, and the "touchdown Jesus" statue in Ohio, both in the same day. I don't know what the commentary MEANT, but it was dramatic. ZOT!

am i the only one to see the oil spill with ambivalence? (please dont kill me for this) I mean, really what WILL it take to get us off our addiction to oil? Im sort of glad this is happening on a big enough scale to scare the shit out of every dumbass who argues that getting off oil will cost us too much in jobs and investments. Maybe having half the gulf be an oil slick and ruining one of our ports for shipping (bye bye S in City) will FINALLY beat it into those think heads of rednecks that oil and gas just ISNT the answer. go go solar baby! renewables or bust!

(Mostly lurk but… <3 <3 <3 this blog and really want to thank you for this analysis. Renee's post at Womanist Musings today reminded me of the importance of saying thank you to bloggers whose writing makes our lives easier and better.)

I'm praying for more anti-rape penises myself. Hmf. Grumble.

I am currently employed as a theology teacher at a fairly progressive-ish seminary, and so I am in the habit of sussing out the theology behind what people attribute to divinity/ies. Statements like Palin's just make me wonder why on earth they find the deity they evidently believe in at all appealing or worthy of any attention whatsoever. The God who goes, "Hmmmm… Wellllll, I wasn't GOING to directly intervene to stop the oil spill, even though I TOTES COULD, but now that there's a DAY OF PRAYER and all, I'd sure hate to disappoint. Well, FINE. I guess if it's EXPECTED."

hm….as a theology teacher surely you've come across the Christian teachings of free will and "ask and you shall receive"? Or do you think the only deity worth worshiping is one who rescues us or keeps everything perfect w/out our asking or our will? I'm totally not being confrontational – I'm very curious as I've been learning more about different beliefs.

It's my understanding – though I admit that this is actually a NEW understanding I've gained from a recent book I read- that God does not cross our boundaries. We are given free will to choose as we like, but there are always consequences, the law of cause and effect no matter what we choose (NOT God "punishing us" as per Pat Robertson). We're also told to ask and we shall receive – but we have to ask.

In that respect I get the PREMISE of a day of prayer – but I think if anything Sarah Palin and those that politicize religion only do so for attention and the appearance of "goodness"…I don't get thesincere vibes from them….in my opinion they make a mockery of it all…and yes, those that are believers ARE already likely to be praying and don't need any politicians to lead them in it.

Statements like Palin's just make me wonder why on earth they find the deity they evidently believe in at all appealing or worthy of any attention whatsoever. The God who goes, "Hmmmm… Wellllll, I wasn't GOING to directly intervene to stop the oil spill, even though I TOTES COULD, but now that there's a DAY OF PRAYER and all, I'd sure hate to disappoint. Well, FINE. I guess if it's EXPECTED."

I don't see the appeal of the Christian deity at all, except for the peace-loving Jesus thing. But his father seems like an asshole.

I agree the anti-rape condom would be risky, but I can also understand how it might be empowering. Instead of just taking it, especially in a country where there is probably few protections (otherwise the incidence wouldn't be so high), a woman can do something proactive.

It makes me think of what some of the women did in the Viet Cong. Or maybe it was North Korea. Their method involved a razor blade and was probably lethal at least some of the time. Whether it was a rape-prevention or a lure to kill an enemy, I'm not sure.

Who?

Tasha Fierce is a Black feminist writer born and raised in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared in the anthologies White Riot: Punk Rock and the Politics of Race and Hot & Heavy: Fierce Fat Girls on Life, Love, and Fashion, as well as in publications such as Bitch Magazine, EBONY.com, Clutch, Jezebel, The Huffington Post, Racialicious, and Corset Magazine.